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15 July 2009 : Column 506W—continued
Post Office Card Account
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress has been made in the discussions between Xafinity Paymaster and the Post Office on the payment of armed forces pensions into the Post Office Card Account. [284813]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I have been asked to reply.
I will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested shortly.
Students: Fees and Charges
Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the total receipts from university tuition fees debt repayments in each year from 2009-10 to 2019-20. [286228]
Mr. Lammy: Provisional figures for income contingent student loan repayments, either notified to or received by the Student Loans Company, in the financial year 2008-09 were £788.3 million(1). It is not possible to break down this figure to amounts repaid for tuition fee loans and maintenance loans, as they are consolidated in the borrower's loan account.
Estimates of income contingent student loan repayments will depend on a number of factors, including student numbers, graduate income levels and patterns of behaviour. Estimates for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are approximately £1.2 billion and £1.4 billion respectively. Estimates for later years are not available.
Figures for financial year 2009-10 are expected be published in a Statistical First Release in summer 2010.
(1) This figure covers direct repayments to SLC, and HMRC notifications of repayments collected through the tax system sent through to SLC in that year, less refunds by SLC to customers where borrowers have over paid their loans-English domiciled students studying in the UK and EU students studying in England.
Source:
SLC Statistical First Release 2002-09 published 25 June 2009.
Students: Radicalism
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to paragraph 9.22 of the UK Strategy for Countering International Terrorism, Cm 7457, what the highest priority establishments are which his Department is targeting to reduce the risk of radicalisation on campus. [286115]
Mr. Lammy: This Department prioritises support to Higher Education Institutions in local authority areas which receive specific Prevent funding to ensure that these institutions are fully linked up to local police and Prevent partnerships that already exist in these areas. Further targeted support with individual institutions will begin in the new academic year.
Training: Logistics
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much the Government has spent on improving the skills of the workforce in the logistic transport industry in Wales in each of the last five years. [285562]
Mr. Hain: I have been asked to reply.
UK Government funding for Skills for Logistics, the Sector Skills Council for the logistic transport industry, is provided through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. Over the last five financial years, they have provided the following funding for the UK as a whole:
| £ million | |
As Skills for Logistics is allocated resources to provide training across the UK, spending in Wales could only be disaggregated at disproportionate cost.
Unemployment: Young People
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of people aged 24 years or under were classified as not in education, employment or training on the latest date for which figures are available are graduates. [286221]
Mr. Lammy [holding answer 13 July 2009]: The number of people aged(1) 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training in the first quarter (January to March) of 2009 was 935,000. Of these, 7.2 per cent. (67,000) held a degree level qualification (or a qualification equivalent to a degree, level 5) or higher.
These estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This is a sample survey subject to variability so numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand and percentages to one decimal place.
(1 )Age used is the respondents academic age, which is their age at the preceding 31 August.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people aged between 16 and 24 years old who were classified as not in education, employment or training at the latest date for which figures are available have at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C. [286222]
Kevin Brennan
[holding answer 13 July 2009]: The number of people aged(1) 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training in the first quarter (January to March) of 2009 was 935,000. Of these, 404,000
(43.2 per cent.) held an NQF level 2 qualification or higher. NQF level 2 is the equivalent to five GCSEs grade A*-C.
These estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This is a sample survey subject to variability so numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand and percentages to one decimal place.
(1 )Age used is the respondents academic age, which is their age at the preceding 31 August.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of people aged between 16 and 24 years old classified as not in education, employment or training on the latest date for which figures are available do not have a level 3 qualification. [286223]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 13 July 2009]: The number of people aged(1) 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training in the first quarter (January to March) of 2009 was 935,000. Of these, 79.6 per cent. (744,000) did not hold a level 3 qualification.
These estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This is a sample survey subject to variability so numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand and percentages to one decimal place.
(1) Age used is the respondents academic age, which is their age at the preceding 31 August.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to answer question 273970, tabled on 5 May 2009, on the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow. [281292]
Mr. McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 July 2009, Official Report, column 432W.
International Development
Afghanistan
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what expenditure his Department has incurred in (a) Helmand Province and (b) elsewhere in Afghanistan in 2009-10 to date. [Official Report, 12 October 2009, Vol. 497, c. 1MC.][286922]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The budget for Helmand province in 2009-10 is £18 million and the rest of Afghanistan is £109.5 million. We anticipate spending our full combined budget of £127.5 million by the end of 2009-10.
The Department for International Development (DFID) publishes expenditure in its annual report and the Statistics in International Development publication. These are available in the Library of the House and on the DFID website:
Afghanistan: Overseas Aid
Mr. Ellwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding his Department has allocated for reconstruction, development and stabilisation projects in Babaji, Helmand province following the completion of Operation Panchai Palang; and what steps his Department is taking to secure contributions
from international and development agencies for such projects. [286923]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has set aside a total of £72 million over the next four years to promote stability and development in Helmand province as a whole, including for projects in Babaji.
DFID also works with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to allocate additional funding to Helmand from the cross-departmental Stabilisation Aid Fund (SAF). The three Departments have agreed to set aside almost £15 million of SAF funding for district stabilisation projects across Helmand in 2009-10. In the Babaji area, funds will be used to respond to identified needs in the areas of health, education, policing, elections, justice and small-scale infrastructure. Our support will enable the Afghan Government to re-engage in Babaji.
Over the next few months, DFID will provide £5 million and the SAF will provide an additional £3 million for wheat seed, fertiliser, and agricultural assistance across Helmand province, including to farmers in Babaji. From September, USAID will provide agricultural vouchers, cash for work, and small business grants throughout Helmand, which will include Babaji.
DFID support includes two long-term infrastructure projects on which we are working with our international development partners. DFID has secured co-funding from the Asian Development Bank for the construction of a 48 km road through the Babaji area, connecting Lashkar Gah to Gereshk. DFID, the Asian Development Bank and the Danish Government will also co-fund the rehabilitation of a hydro-power plant in Gereshk. The project is expected to triple electrical generation capacity, benefiting 200,000 people.
Afghanistan: Prisoners
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the implications of the custodial sentence imposed on journalist Sayed Pervez Kambaksh for his Department's plans to provide assistance to the legal and judicial sector in Afghanistan. [285356]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has no plans to provide funding to the formal legal and judicial sector in Afghanistan.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) leads on UK assistance to the rule of law in Afghanistan. FCO engagement in Afghanistan, like all UK support to legal and judicial systems worldwide, is aimed at improving human rights and the rule of law. The challenges faced in the Afghan legal and judicial system demonstrate why it is so important that the UK remains engaged in this sector.
Africa: Overseas Aid
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the Government's progress towards its 2005 G8 commitment to double aid for the eradication of poverty in Africa by 2010. [285368]
Mr. Thomas: The UK Government are on track to meet their commitments to Africa made at the Gleneagles G8 meeting in 2005. Our expenditure in Africa is projected to reach £3.4 billion in 2010-11, from a baseline of £1.26 billion in 2004-05. These spending levels were confirmed in the April 2009 Budget.
Armed Conflict
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which states he considers to be fragile. [285399]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) is committed to increasing its efforts in fragile states, and so a list is needed to monitor our progress. DFID's current list combines a mix of the World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) index and the Fund for Peace's Failed States Index (FSI). We will update the list every two years with the next update due in October this year.
CDC
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which countries in which CDC has investments do not meet the international tax standard. [285398]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: CDC has existing investments in six jurisdictions which, as of the progress report by the OECD Global Forum of 8 July 2009, have committed to but not yet met the international tax standard of 12 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs). These are:
Cayman Islands
British Virgin Islands
Netherlands Antilles
Vanuatu
Singapore
Malaysia
CDC will in future only commit capital to new funds and direct investments in jurisdictions implementing the international tax standard and in the developing countries they are aiming to help.
Departmental Databases
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to his Oral Statement of 6 July 2009, Official Report, columns 701-4, on Building Our Common Future, when he expects the searchable database of his Department's funded projects will be available online. [285915]
Mr. Michael Foster: The date when this database will be available has not yet been established.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) BlackBerry devices and (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005. [274469]
Mr. Michael Foster: Our records show that in the last five years we have had no BlackBerry devices lost and the total number of mobile phones lost was 13. We cannot break this down further as this information is not readily available and cannot be provided without incurring a disproportionate cost.
The total number of mobile phones lost in each of the last five years is as follows:
| Numbers lost | |
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many (a) photocopiers, (b) scanning devices and (c) fax machines, excluding multi-function devices, there are in his Department; how many there were in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [286170]
Mr. Michael Foster: In the Department for International Development's two UK offices we have as follows:
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